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UnchARTed waters: In 5-year span, Lowell gallery has gone from 'heaps of junk' to 'resource in the community'

By Samantha Allen , sallen@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/24/2014 09:31:28 AM EDT

LOWELL -- Lindsey Parker remembers when her concept of a group of local artists coming together and collaborating in Lowell was just an idea in a cramped space filled with trash.

Five years ago, she set out with some friends to open artist studios on Merrimack Street under the name

UnchARTed. Originally, they rented a space for free at 126 Merrimack St., as the crew of artists banded together to clean out cluttered rooms and make space for themselves.

"It was literally just heaps of junk," Parker recalled.

Today, the group is at 66 Merrimack St., in a spiffy gallery space with hardwood floors and simple white walls they renovated and repaired themselves. Parker, a Chelmsford High School graduate, was joined by local artist and musician Michael Dailey Jr. in continuing to lead the group's efforts.

Michael Dailey Jr. and Lindsey Parker started the UnchARTed Gallery five years ago, not really knowing how it would be received. Today, Parker said, "It's an open forum for anyone to try their creative urges." In the background is one of Dailey's paintings. Sun/Samantha Allen

"What you see here is really just friends and beer," Dailey said of the current space.

Parker, 26, and Dailey, 40, have about 20 artists in their guild, though they say they're anything but pretentious when it comes to their group or their semiunderground "brand." They market their gallery and studio space for rent above as a place where any artist, just starting out or longstanding, can get a start in the art world.

"I look at us like we're just a resource in the community, the creative community, and we're just facilitating artists who are either very sure of themselves ... or they're not so sure of their creative abilities and they want to take a whack at it," Parker said. "I feel like we're providing a space that's low maintenance, low stress. It's an open forum for anyone to try their creative urges."

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The gallery is hosting, through Sunday, an exhibition by Rachel Napear called "Dedicated to the Proposition: The Civil War Recreated." Napear, a photographer who traveled with Civil War re-enactors and took photos documenting their anachronistic creations, said UnchARTed gave her space to host her first show ever.

Occasionally, the gallery will host joint shows with the artists who spend their time upstairs, too. Local artists from across Greater Lowell spend their days working in the small rooms, which are available for rent at a rate of $155 to $205.

Roy Hawes, a local artist in the UnchARTed studios in downtown Lowell, checks out paintings in his workspace.
Sun/Samantha Allen

Corey Luebbers of Chelmsford is working on a mural that spans almost an entire wall in his small studio with a window overlooking downtown.

And Roy Hawes, a 2002 Lowell High School graduate, spends a majority of his time devoted to his paintings. As Hawes walked through his studio, which he said had just been rearranged, dozens of his works covered the walls and spots of paint covered his workspace.

"It just happened, really," he said. "A person that I knew mentioned a couple of people were starting a studio and still looking for spots for people to take. So I jumped at it, because I didn't have my own studio. It's my first time having a room with a door on it."

Artist Corey Luebbers of Chelmsford works on a mural inside his studio at UnchARTed Gallery in downtown Lowell.
Sun/Samantha Allen

Giovanna Aviles, a Lowell photographer and artist, said UnchARTed gave her an opportunity to get back into the art scene after she gave birth to a daughter. She said the studio is a space where she can come and work and get inspired, and she's also working to convert one of UnchARTed's rooms into a community darkroom open to the public. (See related story at http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_25407289/.)

"The great thing about UnchARTed is they give people an opportunity," Aviles said. "They base it on potential."

She said that after graduating from UMass Lowell, she missed the experience of receiving feedback and critiques from her peers. That's why Parker, who graduated from Montserrat College of Art, hosts monthly meetings with the group for UnchARTed artists to inspire one another.

The UnchARTed project is Parker's full-time passion away from her full-time day job as a screen printer. She and Dailey and the group pour themselves into helping fellow artists put on shows.

Parker said that though they're not officially nonprofit, any money raised goes back into developing shows or offering space to renters.

When Parker gets a moment, she comes to her sun-drenched studio to work on her own pieces and to experiment with her large, antique printing press. She said she met Dailey at 119 Gallery, another Mill City artist venue on Chelmsford Street, to which she credits much of UnchARTed's success.

"It organically formed into, now, this living organism," she said. "This combination of weird people are making it happen and keeping it interesting. ... I'm not sure what will happen in the future because I never even expected it to be this. I don't even know where we could take it."

UnchARTed Gallery is at 66 Merrimack St. The closing reception for Rachel Napear's Civil War-themed exhibition is scheduled for Sunday, starting at 7 p.m. On Saturday, May 31, the gallery will host the second annual Mill City Skillshare. For more details, visit http://millcityskillshare.wordpress.com/ or https://www.facebook.com /pages/UnchARTed/202386856448988.

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